Toshiba and Sony to Fuel Legal (and Illegal) Online Movie Downloads

As the technology and film industry gear up for the next-gen optical format war, it is important to step back and ask the question: Who will ultimately benifit from this?

Next month, Toshiba will be releasing its first HD-DVD player. Sony has also announced their first Blu-Ray player and expects to go to market before the end of the year. Initially, excitement from early adopters may drive sales. But in the long run, with the uncertainty of what movies will be available on which format, consumers will turn to an alternate source for their hollywood fix: the internet.

Within the next year a number of companies are poised to begin offering legal downloads of movies online. Starz has already opened an online movie store called Vongo, which offers unlimited movies for $9.99 a month. And with the expected release of a true video iPod, Apple might just have a thing or two up their sleeve. Although the quality of online video will initialy be nowhere near High Definition, as bandwidth increases over the next few years we will see legal and illegal downloads approaching and even surpassing that of the next-gen optical discs.

Unless Toshiba and Sony can agree to play nice, this next battle will prove a loss for both companies and mark the demise of a physical video format.

image courtesy of www.hometheaterfocus.com

The Death of Privacy in America…

Everybody’s talking about privacy: the U.S. Government, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and even a handful of nanotechnology firms. And, while privacy advocates would have us believe that it’s already too late to stop our government, some of us are scratching our heads and wondering what to think. Could current trends end privacy as we know it? What does nanotechnology mean for the future of privacy?

Dubai: Tourism Capital…Of the World? برج دبي

Burj Dubai is now about 30 stories in height and is “laying the foundation” for an international chain of Armani Hotels. The tower, an art deco spire that will climb to a height of 800 meters, or 2,625 feet, will become the largest structure in the world. The tower and surrounding complex is becoming the new center of the City of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, a country whose economy is based entirely on oil production. The country is looking to diversify its economy by introducing tourism, mainly from western nations. Emaar Properties, the principle developer, is spending upwards of $9 Billion on the complex and is in no way spending conservatively: the Burj Dubai’s interior will be decorated by Georgio Armani and its facade will be clad in a chrome-glass composite. The city is becoming home to a few “world’s firsts.” The downtown marina, Dubai Marina, is set to be the largest man-made marina in the world. The Palm Islands, a residential retreat, is in the process of becoming the largest artificial island on the face of the earth. The city is already home to the world’s tallest hotel, the Burj al-Arab. Many Westerners have misconceptions of the Middle East and what it has to offer as a tourist destination. Europeans are beginning to become acquainted with Dubai, as it is a midway point between Europe and the capitals of Asia.  Most Americans won’t step foot in the Middle East. Cities like Dubai are proving the opposite of popular belief, that Arabia is much more than terrorists and a sandy desert.

A Plethora of Cell Phone Security Threats…

Warnings about the potential threats of cell phones to security have been mounting lately.  Engadget’s recent discussion about the vulnerability of RFID tags to cell phone attacks, much older (though increasingly valid) complaints about Java vulnerabilities in cell phone software, and SMSAnalysis.org’s lengthy discussion of SMS weaknesses are all cause for concern. Enter a cell phone service, TextPayMe, which offers the ability for users to transfer money via cell phone.  Is anyone else envisioning large sums of money being “transfered” right out of an unsuspecting user’s bank account?

Efficiency of Solar Cell Soon to Rise

The idea of creating a “photon antenna” (a previously discovered technology that is being studied with renewed vigor) through nano technology that works somewhat like a coaxial cable, but for the attraction of light photons is currently being studied at both Penn State University and Boston College. The technology is gaining ground, and is being studied by numerous research organizations. Instead of a panel absorbing light passively (absorbing only the light that hits it directly), these photon antennas will attract light and absorb them quickly, much faster than current solar panels. This idea, when commercially viable, will increase the efficiency of solar cells by 300-400%, an amazing advance in this technology. One of the main barriers of solar energy is its somewhat low efficiency. If solar energy can become competative to other types of energy, efficiency-wise, then it will gain a much larger stake in world energy production. Penn State is also creating a solar cell that can turn water into hydrogen and oxygen directly from sunlight. This is another breakthrough in solar energy and may help fuel the future hydrogen economy. Pictured above, these so called carbon “nanotubes” absorb light at a much higher efficiency than current photovoltaic technologies.

Its a Bird…Its a Plane…Its a Car?

According to researchers at MIT, our world may soon look a little bit more like “The Jetsons”. Terrafuiga, a startup created by a group of MIT graduates, aims to produce the worlds first production flying car by the end of the decade. The car will fly at an altitude of around 12,000 feet, get almost 30 miles to the gallon, and will carry two people along with their luggage up to 500 miles. The wings will even fold up when not in use to allow tight parking and urban driving. If you want one of these, you better start saving up, as one will cost you a whopping $148,000. For more information check out this News.com article or click here to view mock-up photos of the car.

Mazda Jumps Onto Hydrogen Bandwagon!

Mazda plans to begin leasing a dual engine vehicle. The car can be switched to run on hydrogen or gasoline at the push of a button. I’m getting one…hardcore! Well, if I lived in Japan. Hopefully it will come here soon. Article is here: CNN.com

Downloaders Play with Their Food

Wired News reports that the United Nations new game, Food Force, has quickly become one of the most popular downloads on the internet.  The game, which unlike most new games features no violence, centers around the operations of the emergency food program.  Certainly an interesting follow up to the likes of Live 8 and One.org. 

Another Poor Defense?

LifeHacker.com reports the Microsoft has released yet another piece of software, dubbed Windows Defender to help defend windows against spyware.  The new piece of software replaces Microsoft’s “Anti-Spyware” program.  Whether the new version will actually succeed in plugging the seemingly unending stream of Windows XP security holes remains to be seen.  For those seeking actual security, this writer recommends a combination of the free virus-scan program avast! and the free, open-source internet browser Firefox.  If you haven’t switched over yet, it’s not too late save your PC, and your pocketbook, with a few full-featured tools.  I recommend checking out Wikipedia’s list of open-source software for free programs that use less system resources and have more features than what M$ and the like are releasing.

Shell Hydrogen?

Shell Oil Group created the branch organization, Shell Hydrogen, in 1999 to realize its wish to “play a leading role and champion the realisation of a hydrogen-based economy.” Shell Hydrogen’s goal is to bring hydrogen into the retail and consumer markets as a common fuel. The company predicts a “global hydrogen economy as a new [energy infrastructure] in which hydrogen represents an important component of the portfolio of energy sources and fuels, and as a realistic alternative to the world’s present wide-scale use of hydrocarbon fuels.” Shell Hydrogen has partnered with General Motors Fuel Cell Vehicles in order to make these ideas a reality. Shell hopes to build a “Hydrogen Highway” between Washington D.C. and New York within the next decade, dotting the route between the two cities with hydrogen fueling stations, that hopefully, consumers will use once hydrogen vehicles are commercially available. Already, a Shell Hydrogen Fueling Station exists in the River Terrace area of Washington D.C. GM has supplied numerous hydrogen-run vehicles to the government and organizations located in the area. Other motor vehicle companies have built hydrogen fuel vehicles that also use the station as their main fueling point. It has recently been announced that a small town, Greenburgh, in Westchester County in New York will be receiving a Shell Hydrogen Fueling Station by this summer. GM will donate 5 hydrogen fuel vehicles to the town’s local government. Within the next five years, hydrogen stations will be popping up throughout the country, awaiting the day that the first consumer fuel cell vehicle rolls off the assembly line…